Supernova (2000) [Never-Before-Seen R-Rated Version!] – DVD

August 21, 2000Posted in2000s, Authors: Bill Chambers, DVD, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

*½/**** Image A- Sound A-
starring James Spader, Angela Bassett, Peter Facinelli, Lou Diamond Phillips
screenplay by David Campbell Wilson
directed by “Thomas Lee”

by Bill Chambers

“In the farthest reaches of deep space, the medical vessel Nightingale keeps a lonely vigil for those in trouble. When a frantic cry for help pierces the void, the crew responds with a near fatal, hyper-space dimension jump into the gravitational pull of a dying star. The disabled ship rescues a shuttlecraft containing a mysterious survivor and a strange alien artifact. Now the crew must unravel a chilling secret and escape the nearby imploding star before the forming supernova blasts them and the entire galaxy into oblivion!”
–Supernova DVD jacket synopsis

“If you can’t take the heat, get out of the universe!” –Supernova trailer tagline

Common Hollywood practice: In pursuit of an inclusionary MPAA rating (be it G, PG, or PG-13), a motion picture, irrespective of subject matter, is toned down for its theatrical release, only to see the excised footage restored for home video, because nothing moves tapes faster than the great Unrated promise. Both are commercial considerations to maximize profit: it’s a notorious marketing paradox that allows the studio to have its cake and eat it, too–to seem like arbiters of good taste during the period of heaviest public scrutiny, and then to exploit the repressed appetites of the renting public.

Sleepy Hollow (1999) – DVD

May 22, 2000Posted in1990s, Authors: Bill Chambers, Directors: Tim Burton, DVD, Fantasy, Germany, Horror, Mystery

**/**** Image A+ Sound A Extras C+
starring Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon
screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker
directed by Tim Burton

by Bill Chambers Googly eyes that spring forth from a ghoulish figure. A burning windmill. Ghostly choir music. Jeffrey Jones. Sleepy Hollow is Tim Burton's Greatest Hits. The trouble with most compilation albums is that they're superficial, a bunch of songs connected by one flimsy context: retrospection. If this latest gloomfest from Burton doesn't make you yearn for the days when you were witnessing his directorial flourishes for the first time, we saw different films. The storytelling is as shallow as the setting is hollow.

American Movie (1999) [Special Edition] – DVD

May 22, 2000Posted in****/****, 2000s, Authors: Bill Chambers, Comedy, Documentary, Drama, DVD, FFC Must-Own, Horror, Short Films

****/**** Image A- Sound B Extras A
directed by Chris Smith

Mustownby Bill Chambers You can imagine, as a virgin does sex, what it’s like to make a movie, but until you do it, you’ll never really know. In film school, I directed a couple of shorts–nothing you’ve seen, but that’s beside the point: American Movie reminded me of why I hate making movies and why I miss it all the same. For me, watching this picture was a religious experience: Our (debatable) class differences notwithstanding, I don’t know that I’ve ever identified with a screen character more than I did real-life struggling hyphenate Mark Borchardt. For non-directors, American Movie offers plenty of Fargo-style behavioral laughs, and it may kick-start the realization of your own elusive goals. This precious ode to fringe filmmaking pulls off the amazing feat of being accessible and specialized at once.

The Hidden (1987) – DVD

May 15, 2000Posted in1980s, Authors: Vincent Suarez, DVD, Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

***/**** Image A- Sound A- Extras B
starring Kyle MacLachlan, Michael Nouri, Claudia Christian
screenplay by Bob Hunt
directed by Jack Sholder

by Vincent Suarez The plot elements of screenwriter Jim Kouf’s (here hiding his identity behind the pseudonym Bob Hunt) science-fiction thriller The Hidden are so basic, so endemic to the genre, that the shape they take is largely dependent on the era in which they find expression. In the golden age of sci-fi, the 1950s, this tale of a malevolent alien being–with political aspirations, no less–transforming a bevy of formerly benign human hosts into murderers would have perfectly complemented “Red Scare” allegories like Invasion of the Body Snatchers. 20 years later, director David Cronenberg’s oft-explored themes of biological horror would have melded nicely with the gorier aspects of the alien’s existence. Today, the sci-fi/detective ingredients of the story might make for a classic episode of “The X-Files”. As it stands, Jack Sholder’s eerie and effective The Hidden is very much a product of its time, the late-1980s, in ways that are both flattering and detrimental.

Scream 3 (2000)

February 5, 2000Posted in2000s, Authors: Bill Chambers, Horror, Mystery, Theatrical, Wes Craven

*/****
starring Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox Arquette, David Arquette, Parker Posey
screenplay by Ehren Kruger
directed by Wes Craven

by Bill Chambers Miramax "disinvited" online media from press screenings of Scream 3. They ostensibly feared that folks like me would write spoiler-filled reviews and post them prior to the film's February 4th release date–unsound reasoning. You see, 'net critics established enough to be on any sort of VIP list are professionals–Miramax surely knows the difference between an upstanding member of The On-Line Film Critics Society (OFCS) and the type of fanboy who submits spy reports to Ain't It Cool News. No, the 'mini major' was afraid we'd let a bigger cat out of the bag than whodunit: that Scream 3 is a dismal conclusion to the beloved (by this writer, at least) franchise.

Stephen King’s Storm of the Century (1999) – DVD

June 22, 1999Posted in1990s, Authors: Bill Chambers, Canada, Drama, DVD, Horror, Stephen King, Television, Thriller

Storm of the Century
**½/**** Image A Sound B+ Commentary A-
starring Tim Daly, Colm Feore, Debrah Farentino, Casey Siemaszko
teleplay by Stephen King
directed by Craig R. Baxley

by Bill Chambers Donald Trump probably hears it every time he gets a divorce: “Give me what I want and I will go away.” Stephen King, prolific author of books beautiful (The Green Mile serial) and banal (Insomnia), recently wove a miniseries, the TV equivalent of an “event movie,” around this loaded demand. For three consecutive nights during last February’s sweeps week, viewers tuned in to Storm of the Century wondering what the psychic, psychotic Linoge (Colm Feore) could possibly want from the townsfolk of a New England inlet on the eve of a blizzard loosely inspired by the one that was christened “storm of the century” when it passed through the Eastern seaboard in 1993.